Ableism is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “Discrimination in favour of able-bodied people; prejudice against or disregard of the needs of disabled people."

You might see forms of ableism in schools, anywhere there is no ramp access, on t.v., and in the everyday speech of uneducated a**holes. You might have a disability, know someone who does, you may have been kind of nice to the weird kid who stutters one time, or you might have thought briefly about how much more complicated your life would be without control over your lower limbs, any of these things would cause you to click on this article.

Here are 10 things you can do to try to change the world (even just a little bit).

1. Make a friend with someone who has a disability

Step one is easy, all you have to do is smile and wave.

2. Stop looking down on people with disabilities

Stop looking at people with disabilities like they are poor, souls who deserve so much more than life has given them. I like to think of disabilities more like superpowers. Autism? More like super-sensitivity. Down Syndrome? Call in the X-men, we have a superhuman on our hands: this one has an extra chromosome! It’s kind of like we all have different talents and some of ours are just a bit more apparent.

3. Spread the word to end the word

In today’s day and age we have a plethora of creative, hilarious, vicious, and biting insults. So of all the clever things you could possibly say, make yourself sound smart and recognize the person you are trying to insult is probably less affected by you calling them a “retard” then the disabled kid who overhears you.

Besides, what you really mean to do is call someone “stupid” and I am pretty sure Stephen Hawking has a higher IQ than all of us.

4. Speak up, especially for people who can’t

If you see something wrong-- get up, type, yell, get a teacher, call the cops, change the subject, or tell them that making fun of kids who have disabilities is soooooo 2001.

5. Don’t be a hero

Please. Stop. Taking. Kids. Who. Are. Disabled. To Prom. And. Filming. It. Like. You. Are. A. Hero.

You are not some amazing wonderful, perfect, human being for pity-asking a girl with down syndrome to the prom. I am not sure why we keep celebrating kids like you, honestly. You are doing something kind of nice, sure, anyone would love to be asked to prom. However, asking someone with a disability to a school dance isn’t somehow EXTRA kind, any decent person should do it. Shame on you for thinking this makes you look good.

Do it because you want to, not because you want attention.

6. Stop babying, but help if someone needs it.

Have you ever been in a supermarket with your adult sister (who has down syndrome) and watched as a woman, probably in her mid-forties, makes a baby voice and proceeds to ask her if she “wawnts any candwy?” I will tell you one thing, it’s f***ing humiliating for everyone involved. But if my sister asks you to help her put on a movie using her signs, you can probably help her out.

7. Don’t tell mother’s to get abortions just because their child might be disabled

Just stop telling women what to do with their bodies, period.

8. Ask more questions

What does this person need that is different from what you and your able-bodied friends might need? How can you be a better ally?

9. Get over being uncomfortable

People with disabilities are not scary, so don’t act like they are.